After nearly nine years, we are shuttering our blog here at All Things Avs.

A number of factors went into this decision — the biggest of all being the relaunch of The Denver Post’s website late last month. Many of our blogs, including All Things Avs, began in 2007, when the term “blogging” had been in the popular lexicon for a few years and we were dealing with outdated and cumbersome digital publishing systems.

The blog allowed writers to write more personal thoughts and publish quickly, often well past deadline, or when we had small but notable pieces of news that didn’t warrant a whole story. Some were short posts, but many others were long analyses, player grades and post-game commentary that stepped outside traditional newspaper storytelling structures. We gave you behind-the-scenes looks at how we covered the team and delivered it with personal voice. It was more conversational, and in many ways, that’s the kind of work that created such a powerful community here. The success of this blog has informed us of what kind of stories resonate with fans, and that style of writing will still very much be a part of our reporting; it just won’t live in this space.

Social media has also played a significant role. Sports fans use social media to find the best and most interesting stories, and where those pieces live is far less important now than what they say and how they say them. Is the work insightful? Does it break significant news or help you understand an aspect of the team in a stronger way? Good storytelling is good storytelling.

Avalanche center Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist Friday as Canada beat the United States 5-1 in St. Petersburg, Russia in the opening game for both teams in the World Championships. Edmonton’s Cam Talbot was in the Canada net, and the Avalanche’s Calvin Pickard is likely to get the start Sunday against Hungary.

The other Avalanche property in the Friday game, recently signed University of Michigan winger J.T. Compher, didn’t have a point for the USA.

Goalie Semyon Varlamov was expected to be on Russia’s roster, but wasn’t listed Thursday following reports in Russia that he was injured and wouldn’t be able to play.

Also, young right wing Mikko Rantanen had been listed on the Finland roster going into the tournament, but wasn’t on the official roster Thursday. Same with Swedish defenseman Anton Lindholm, 21, a Colorado 2014 draft choice still playing in Sweden. He wasn’t on Sweden’s roster, either. But both still are with their teams and practicing and might be added to the roster during the tournament. Additions are allowed through the tournament, up to the limit of 22 skaters and three goalies.

Michigan junior forward J.T. Compher will serve as the Wolverines’ captain for the 2015-16 season. (Photo: University of Michigan)

While this blog has been somewhat dry since the end of the regular season, the mothership site at denverpost.com/avalanche is producing new content regularly.

In addition to Sunday NHL columns, videos and mailbag items, we have posted player capsules daily over the last two weeks and the 10th was filed Wednesday on forward Mikhail Grigorenko. The editors and online producers like to call them “evaluations” but Terry Frei and I prefer “season-in-review capsules” or something without a “grading” connotation. Teacher, professors and coaches have the ability the grade — not sports writers.

About that headline: J.T. Compher, who was acquired from Buffalo in the Ryan O’Reilly trade last summer, is under contract and will forego his senior year at Michigan. The high-scoring forward was a second-team West All-American with Denver defenseman Will Butcher, an Avalanche draftee. Both juniors, Compher and Butcher played together for two years at the U.S. National Development Program and for the 2015 U.S. World Junior team.

Butcher will remain at DU for his senior season. He might be more likely to have his rights traded or become a free agent in 2017 than sign with the Avalanche. Just have to sit back and see how this one plays out, but the 5-foot-10 Butcher is certainly an excellent NCAA defenseman. We’ll have more on Butcher, Compher and the Avalanche’s general stance on NCAA players in Sunday’s NHL column. Here’s a teaser:

Going back 5 years, 28 out of 30 NHL teams have signed at least one undrafted college free agent. Colorado & Dallas only teams that haven't.

I requested a comment from GM Joe Sakic on the firing of Dean Chynoweth, head coach of the Avs’ AHL affiliate in San Antonio. But I haven’t heard back yet and I’m going on short-term disability Thursday morning. Knee-replacement surgery. Out 2-3 weeks for the job. But I’ll be back on the ice in 3-6 months.

Veteran Darryl Bootland scored at 2:31 of triple overtime Sunday night — late Sunday night — to give the Colorado Eagles a 5-4 win over the Utah Grizzlies at the Budweiser Events Center, tying the first-round ECHL series at one game apiece.

That was Bootland’s second goal of the game. The 34-year-old winger, who has played 32 NHL games in his journeyman’s career that also has included stints in the AHL, is in his second season with Colorado.

The next three games in the Utah-Colorado series are at West Valley City, Utah, beginning with Game 3 Thursday.

Colorado needs to win one of the three to get the series back to Loveland for the if-necessary Games 6 and 7.

Jake Marto, Collin Bowman and Everett Sheen had the other Colorado goals.

As noted in both stories, the Bowman family followed the advice of Patrick Roy and moved to Vancouver briefly so Drayson (and Collin) could benefit from stronger minor/youth hockey competition in Canada. An important point in the story about Collin is that youth hockey in Colorado has improved exponentially and the opportunities for elite level competition have increased since the Bowmans went to Vancouver.

“As I see it around here, hockey’s picked up tremendously since we started moving around,” Collin said. “Guys are definitely making it out of Colorado and doing big big things in college hockey and all that stuff. I think we will end up kind of being the last wave chasing it out of state for hockey.”

— I’ve followed the Eagles, mostly from afar, but also occasionally have written about them since their founding. I toured the Budweiser Events Center when it was under construction with Eagles founder Ralph Backstrom, the legendary for Montreal Canadiens center who played for the World Hockey Association’s Denver Spurs (before their mid-season departure for Ottawa) and went on to coach the Denver Pioneers. The Eagles are a vibrant part of the Northern Colorado sports landscape, and the Budweiser Events Center actually is an easy drive, especially from the north side of the Denver metro area, for those going through hockey playoff withdrawal. Plus, their ace play-by-play man, Kevin McGlue, is a fellow former Wheat Ridge Farmer.

— In the Central Hockey League, the Eagles won the Ray Miron Presidents’ Cup in 2007 and now they’re chasing the Pat Kelly Cup in the ECHL. The Eagles moved from the CHL to the ECHL in 2011, and the CHL has folded since.

What’s weird about that is that Miron and Kelly worked together with the old Colorado Rockies. Miron was the Rockies’ general manager for five seasons, 1976-77 through 1980-81, and one of his coaches was Kelly, who was behind the bench in 1977-78 and the first part of the next season. The Rockies were 19-40-21 in 1977-78 and made the 12-team playoff field in the 17-team league, losing both games in a best-of-three opening round series against the Flyers. Kelly was fired after a 3-14-4 start the next season.

Miron founded the “new” CHL, originally based on central league ownership of franchises, in 1992 and won the Lester Patrick Award for contributions to hockey in the United States in 2004. He died in Tulsa last summer. He was a very nice man and we stayed in touch over the years.

Kelly, who had extensive minor-league playing and coaching experience, was one of the founders of the ECHL in 1988 and the league’s first president.

I wasn’t able to get much of the additional post-game quotes material in the paper, so I’ll add it here.

First, as noted in the game story, Roy said he didn’t ever think his job was in danger, and he went on to say he understood he needed to look in the mirror. I also had included my conversation with him in Dallas Thursday in the game story that night. Here are some of his additional post-game remarks Saturday.

— “We all know we have to do things a bit different next year to be more successful and make the playoffs. It’s the objective we have, to make the playoffs, there’s no doubt about that. . . There are things in our game that are going to have to change. There are things in our game that are going to have to improve. Especially when the third period comes in, we have to find ways to hold on to leads or ties and bring those games to overtime.”

— I asked how much he would tweak or re-examine his system.

“There are things I would like to improve,” he said. “One thing I’ve been trying to do is adapt to the team, and if I thought we were struggling on our tracking, I would try to facilitate this. Maybe I should to try to persevere and try to be tougher in the message that that’s how we want to play. . . Neutral zone forecheck, we could make some changes here and there. But the forecheck I thought was really good. The D-zone coverage, can we be better on putting more pressure on the defensemen when they have the puck? Yes. Is it an adjustment we tried to make in the season? Yes, we have. But the big deal in our D-zone coverage is our gap. It’s also the turnovers. These are the things we’re going to have to improve. If we turn over the puck like we’ve been doing this year, it’s obvious that we’re going to spend a lot of time in our end.”

— The Avalanche actually was decent on the road, going 22-19. But at home, Colorado was 17-20-4.

“Our home record is not good enough,” Roy said. “We had 44 points on the road and 38 at home,” he said. “Come on, for a team what wants to make the playoffs, that doesn’t work. That was the part I tried to pinpoint and put my finger on … I have my ideas, obviously, like probably everyone here has. But at the end of the day, it’s hard to understand.”

— On blowing leads in the third period:

“The first year I got here, we were going into the third periods and we couldn’t believe we could lose that hockey game,” Roy said. “This year, since the first game of the season (a collapse against Minnesota), when we lost that game, it really made us very fragile. Every time we were going into the third, I think we carried that game all year long in the third period. It really hit us hard and it was something we’re going to have to approach next year and have to be stronger in the third period, especially mentally. . . We need to play smart hockey, simple decisions with the puck.”

— In the dressing room, Matt Duchene said that after the recent back-to-back losses to Philadelphia and Minnesota, “it took the wind out of our sails. I think we counted ourselves out rather than staying with it and making sure we kept going.”

Duchene said of Sakic’s confirmation of Roy’s return: “I’m not surprised. None of us thought that Patty was on the hot seat. Those guys have a plan and they’re carrying it out, year to year. . . All of us as a group have to do our best and if they make changes, they make changes. If they don’t, they don’t, and we have to be ready for next season.”

— Captain Gabe Landeskog said: “It doesn’t feel good, no doubt, kind of empty. The last few days, after the Nashville game, you don’t really know how to handle it. You’re frustrated, you’re mad, you’re upset, and all of those things mixed into one. It’s not a good feeling. . . As much as I hate to say it, it feels like we played our worst hockey at the worst possible time. We gave ourselves a chance all season to be in the mix come March, and to be in a playoff spot, and we kept losing the big games, even with home ice.”

At his media availability Saturday, Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic said he had liked what he had seen from late-season acquisitions Mikkel Boedker and Shawn Matthias and would want them back, if it could be worked out.

Both could become unrestricted free agents on July 1, and the problem with Boedker is that the Arizona Coyotes balked at his camp’s parameters for a contract extension and the Avalanche’s tendency to cite “structure” could come into play.

Here’s what Boedker told me after the morning skate in Dallas Thursday: “There’s no decision as of right now. I’ve enjoyed my time here so far and we’ll see what happens in the summer.”

Boedker finished with 17 goals and 34 assists in 80 games with the Coyotes and Avalanche, and his totals for Colorado alone were four goals and eight assists in 18 games.

Matthias had six goals and five assists in 20 games after his acquisition from Toronto. He gave the Avalanche a big body who could go to the net and score or create opportunities.

Semyon Varlamov allowed five goals on 31 Anaheim shots Saturday in the Avalanche’s 5-3 season-ending loss to the Ducks. He played 57 games this season, finishing with a 2.81 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.

“It’s frustrating for sure that we didn’t make the playoffs this year,” he said.

Varlamov usually defers to others to publicly evaluate his play, but he did address his season’s body of work after the final game.

“It was a tough year for me, no doubt,” he said. “I’ve been up and down all year. I don’t think I played my best year. I know what I have to do. I know what I have to work on. I know I have to be better. That’s what I’m going to say. It will be really frustrating to watch how I played the last couple of games, too. I need to regroup, recharge the batteries for next year. I need to have a good summer and I can (say) I am going to be better next year, for sure.”

He confirmed he will play for Russia in the upcoming World Championships. He also was selected for the national team in the World Cup of Hockey later in the year.

As the puck drop for the final Avalanche game approaches, I’ve filed my “obit” story that will run in the Sunday paper and perhaps be posted sooner.

I wasn’t able to get Jarome Iginla’s reaction in there, and given his status as an iconic figure and leader in the dressing room and on the ice, I’ll add it here.

He has one year remaining on his three-year, $16-million deal with the Avalanche and when I sat down with him after the morning skate in Dallas Thursday, he confirmed he plans to play again next season. (I knew what the answer would be, but sometimes you just have to ask…)

In fact, one of the Avalanche’s “problems” is that Iginla almost seems reluctant or sheepish about claiming too much leadership responsibility because he’s not the player he once was. But if he’s going to be around next season, even in an additionally diminished role, the Avalanche would be better off with assuring him he can take charge in that department, whether wearing a C, an A or no letter at all.

In addition to his own future, we touched on some other issues. Read more…

Shawn Matthias scored the Avalanche’s second goal with one minute left (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

DALLAS — My Avalanche-Stars game story, based on a pre-game conversation with Patrick Roy, is here.

The Avalanche Briefs, leading with Jarome Iginla talking about his future, are here.

I spent much of the Dallas portion of this trip gathering material for the weekend. However, Joe Sakic politely declined to be interviewed, since he will be made available in a group news conference-type setting Saturday in conjunction with the final game of the season Saturday against the Ducks.

The game? Oh, yeah, there was a game. For much of the night, with the Stars leading and the St. Louis Blues trailing the Blackhawks 1-0, it seemed as if Dallas would clinch the Central Division title and the home-ice advantage through the Western Conference finals, if they get that far. But the Blues rallied to win 2-1 in overtime and remained tied with Dallas. The Stars will have the tiebreaker, so a win Saturday against Nashville will give them the division title and that top conference seed. But it will go down to Saturday. Read more…

NASHVILLE — Defenseman Nikita Zadorov, who missed Sunday’s Colorado loss to St. Louis, went through the morning skate Tuesday in Nashville and, barring an unforeseen snag, will be back in the Avalanche lineup against the Predators.

He was cleared through the NHL’s concussion protocol, but Zadorov said Washington’s Tom Wilson hadn’t hit him in the head on Friday night when he was injured and done for the night.

“It was a clean hit, that’s why I recovered so fast,” Zadorov said after the morning skate. “It wasn’t the head or anything. It happened. I’ve been hitting all my life and now it’s probably time for me to get hit from someone. But it’s more like instincts that didn’t work for me that time.

“Usually I know where all five guys are on the ice. I saw (T.J.) Oshie went and changed.I saw the replay and saw Wilson jump on the ice and right away came behind the net. I thought he was on the hashmark so I still would have time to make a play. That’s why I wasn’t worried about getting hit that time. Next time, I’m going to be more aware about that.”

Zadorov was set to play in the third defensive pairing against Nashville, with Zach Redmond.

The Colorado Avalanche lost 5-1 to the St. Louis Blues on Sunday night at home. Center Matt Duchene scored the team’s lone goal, his 30th.
Duchene, asked about that goal, which came when St. Louis led 4-0 late in the third period, said all of the right things. Later, Patrick Roy blasted Duchene in his post-game press conference for his goal celebration, which you can see above, along with Duchene’s interview before those comments.

Patrick Roy: “Our core players are having a hard time carrying this team:”

Patrick Roy: “The reaction of Dutchy after he scores. It’s a 4-0 (game). Big cheer. Are you kidding me? What is that?”

Patrick Roy’s opening statements: “For some reason we’re in a funk at home and struggling to win some hockey games.”

Here’s what Duchene had to say about 30 goals and why the Avs have lost five of the last six games:Read more…

As incredible as it might seem, POWs at Stalag Luft III, 90 miles from Berlin, played hockey while in captivity. These photos, and those at bottom, courtesy Marilyn Walton.

At the morning skates Friday at the Pepsi Center, I had a nice chat with Capitals radio play-by-play broadcaster John Walton, with whom I became acquainted in a roundabout way.

John’s grandfather, Lt. Col. Thomas F. Jeffers, was a bombardier on a B-24 crew during World War II. After his plane was shot down on June 18, 1944, Jeffers spent nearly a year as a prisoner of war in, first, the infamous Stalag Luft III — the “Great Escape” camp — for Allied officers near Sagan, Germany (present-day Zagan, Poland). Then, after a forced mass evacuation and march of the prisoners began on January 27, 1945, Jeffers and the POWs ended up at Stalag VII-A near Munich. The march came during the coldest winter in Germany in 50 years, as the Russians advanced from the east. Stalag VII-A was liberated by Gen. George Patton’s Third Army on April 29, 1945, the day before Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker.

John’s mother, Marilyn Jeffers Walton, over the years has helped organize reunions and symposiums mainly for Stalag Luft III survivors and their families, and the families of POWs who have passed away. The reunions began in 1946 and were run by the former POWs themselves for six decades, but as the ranks dwindled, their families took over.

She also is the author of several books, including Rhapsody in Junk (2007), about her voyage of discovery in retracing her father’s wartime experiences, including at Stalag Luft III. The title is the name of her father’s B-24.

Because of my 2004 book Third Down and a War to Go and the many pieces I have done tying World War II with sports, I was invited to attend one of those reunions and symposiums a few years ago, when it was held at the Air Force Academy. In part, the site was a tribute to former AFA superintendent Lt. General Albert P. Clark, who had been the head escape officer in the South Compound at Stalag Luft III and was a POW since July 1942. He was one of the youngest lieutenant colonels in the camp and the first USAAF fighter pilot taken prisoner of war in Germany. He lived first in North Compound with the British, becoming “Big S,” head of security operations for Roger Bushell, mastermind of the “Great Escape.” The spring 1944 escape from the North Compound, redrawn a bit by Hollywood in the 1963 film, involved British Royal Air Force POWs from countries within the British Commonwealth, as well as Polish, French, Lithuanian, Dutch, Greek, Czech, and Norwegian pilots flying with the British — representing 13 countries in all. Americans were in the South, Center and West Compounds. Even after the Gestapo murders of 50 of the 76 recaptured escapees, the Americans continued to construct escape tunnels.

While communicating with Marilyn Walton, she mentioned I might know her son. John Walton. The radio voice of the Washington Capitals.

Small world, isn’t it?

I wasn’t able to make the reunion and symposium because of work obligations, and I regret that to this day.

Down a couple of booths from Walton in the press box Friday night was Avalanche radio play-by-play voice Marc Moser, an aficionado of World War II aircraft. And down on the ice before the game was Avalanche game-night anthem singer Jake Schroeder, like Moser a tireless advocate of military veteran causes. Schroeder is executive director of the Denver Police Activities League for area youths. Together, Moser and Schroeder annually help escort American World War II veterans to revisit the sites of their battles and service in Europe.

My connection?

One of the heroes in Third Down and a War to Go, about the 1942 Wisconsin Badgers winning one version of the national championship, heading off to serve in World War II, and not all coming back, was halfback and co-captain Mark Hoskins. My father, Jerry, was an 18-year-old sophomore backup guard on that team before his stint as a P-38 fighter pilot in the Pacific Theater, and he looked up to Hoskins and co-captain Dave Schreiner, who was killed in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945.

Hoskins was alive when I researched the book, and I traveled to interview him at his home in San Diego.

He was a B-17 co-pilot whose plane was shot down over Hungary in a mission against German military targets on June 27, 1944, and he ended up a POW in Stalag Luft III. Amid our far-reaching, marathon discussions, we talked at length about his experiences in the South Compound, with prisoners organizing such things as football and hockey games, a “radio” station broadcast over loudspeakers, the Circuit newspaper (actually a one-page sheet posted on the cookhouse wall), plays and concerts — and a lot more. (And horrible, nauseating food supplied by the Germans and broken up only by Red Cross contributions.) Hoskins was a standout in the compound football games, covered by the POW newspaper. The other star was former Kentucky back Jess Tunstill.

The above and below are shots of hockey games in Center Compound of the camp, thanks to skate blades supplied by the YMCA through Sweden. The POWs would attach the blades to their shoes, by straps or they were screwed to the sole of the worn shoes. Hoskins, being a good Wisconsin boy, played, often with the German commandant and guards enjoying the games. In fact, a team from the South Compound beat a squad from the Center Compound 3-1 on January 23, 1945, only four days before the Germans forced the Stalag Luft III prisoners to leave and begin the perilous march to Moosburg and Stalag VII-A.

About 10,000 prisoners (among them Hoskins and Jeffers) began the 52-mile trek in bitter cold and walked 20 miles through the first night. Older German guards could barely keep up, and it was not unusual to have the younger POWs carry their rifles for them. Many collapsed and had to be left behind to freeze to death. Eventually, the survivors prisoners, many quite ill, were crammed into 40&8 boxcars (40 men or 8 horses) in Spremberg, Germany, and completed the journey on the third night. The new camp, a German Army (Wehrmacht) camp meant to hold only a few thousand, then holding 120,000 allied men, made the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) camp, Stalag Luft III, seem like the Waldorf-Astoria.

Among Hoskins’ contributions to my research was loaning me his copy of “Clipped Wings,” an amazing school yearbook-type work about the South Compound prisoners’ experiences in Stalag Luft III and, ultimately, Stalag VII-A. Trying to describe it won’t do it justice, and I made myself a home-made photocopied and bound version before returning the book to Hoskins, who died in June 2003, a year before Third Down and a War to Go was published. He did see a copy of the manuscript shortly before he died, though, and gave it a thumbs up. (In the original posting of this blog, the grainy photos of hockey were from “Clipped Wings.” These are better.)

I regret not being able to ask Thomas Jeffers and Mark Hoskins, who arrived at Stalag Luft III at approximately the same time, if they ever ran into each other at the camp. Or even played hockey together. The proximity of their dates of captivity would have put them in the same group for interrogation in Frankfurt, Germany, before being sent to Stalag Luft III together.

So, yes, look at those pictures of the hockey games, marvel at the American prisoners’ ingenuity under difficult circumstances, and salute them all … and their contemporaries.

I’ll close with this.

John Walton, with an assist from his mother, helped set up an appearance at the Capitals-Hurricanes game on March 15 of a former Stalag Luft III POW, 2nd Lt. John Pedevillano, 93. He was on the ice with singer Caleb Green for the national anthem.

If you can watch that and, especially while seeing Pedevillano emotionally dab at his eyes during his introduction and mouthing the anthem lyrics, not get at least misty … well, you’re “stronger” than I am.

My father, who was about as young as you could be and go through training and complete an entire tour of duty as a pilot in World War II, died in 2001. He had flown 67 missions in a one-man, twin-engine plane for the Air Force’s forerunner, the Army Air Corps/Air Forces, and as Oregon’s head coach, he went against the Air Force Falcons three times. Yet nobody in the media ever mentioned his connection, in part because he didn’t even include in his coaching bio an explanation of the four-year gap between his sophomore and junior seasons at Wisconsin. That was so typical, wasn’t it? He was the only man on the planet who earned both the World War II Air Medal (three times) and a Super Bowl championship ring (twice). He would be 91 now.

Patrick Roy with fewer gray hairs and sans beard last season (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

After the Avalanche’s 4-2 loss to the Capitals Friday night, Patrick Roy was having a bite to eat in a local establishment and watched the broadcast as the Golden State Warriors’ 54-game home winning streak came to an end against the Boston Celtics.

And Roy noticed what Warriors coach Steve Kerr said afterwards.

“He took the time to praise their players for what they’ve been doing for 54 games,” Roy said. “But the first thing he said (after that) was, ‘We had 22 turnovers and you cannot win if you turn it over.'”

Roy paused and then used his hand to additionally emphasize: “It goes for basketball, it goes for hockey, it goes for all the sports. That’s why I said yesterday I was very frustrated. I have to find a way to make our guys accountable. How I’m going to do it, I guess I’m going to have to figure out. Is it by showing them on the clip night after night. Is it by taking them out of the power play. Is it by benching the guys. . .

“But we have to find a way. I mean, we had way too many turnovers. I’m not going to give you the numbers we came up with, but I’d say probably half of their shots are coming after turnovers.” Read more…

I wouldn’t even have raised this if we weren’t accustomed to San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich holding out veteran players — most notably Tim Duncan — under similar circumstances and if it hadn’t happened two years ago here with Sidney Crosby.

On April 6, 2014, Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma held out Crosby, Chris Kunitz, Brooks Orpik and Olli Maatta from the Penguins’ only game of the season in Denver. The Penguins had played the night before at Minnesota.

ST. LOUIS, MO. — Before filing a buzzer-beating story and heading down to the locker room, I included the Avalanche’s shot count after two periods (11) in the story and felt like I should make a bigger deal about the team’s seemingly passive third-period play in trying to dig out of a manageable 3-1 deficit. I saw the big push in the final minutes, but I saw little passion and a lot of breakout/neutral-zone errors before that. Which is why I didn’t agree with coach Patrick Roy’s postgame stance. Judge for yourself:

Early in the second period, shots were 12-10 in a 1-1 game. And then? Avs captain Gabe Landeskog: “Our second period wasn’t good enough. We stopped moving our feet. We weren’t executing passes. We weren’t supporting each other. That’s what happens — you look like you’re a slow team and that was the case tonight.”

About falling five points behind Minnesota with five remaining games, Landeskog said: “We’re going to stay positive. We’re going to work our hardest to make sure we get wins and climb in the standings.”

ST. LOUIS, MO. — The Avalanche concludes a consecutive-night road trip against a team that hasn’t played since Saturday, when it set a franchise record for consecutive shutout wins (four). The St. Louis Blues are red-hot, and fighting with the Dallas Stars for the Western Conference’s top playoff seed. The NHL modern-day shutout record is five, set by the Phoenix Coyotes Dec. 31, 2003 to Jan. 9, 2004.

Two hours before the game, I asked Avs coach Patrick Roy about the “heck of a challenge.” He said: “There all a heck of a challenge in our conference, especially in our division. They’re all good games, good teams. Everybody has times in the year, the schedule, where the other team is waiting. Tonight, it’s them. Let’s not find excuses. Let’s play the game.”

The Avs-Blues game starts 30 minutes after the Blackhawks-Wild game in St. Paul, Minn. An Avalanche win and Wild loss would get Colorado to within a point of Minnesota for the final WC playoff spot.

After tonight, both teams have five games remaining. Colorado’s sked: vs. WAS, vs. STL, at NSH, at DAL, vs. ANA.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Avalanche center Carl Soderberg is the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association (PHWA) Colorado chapter recipient and national nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to ice hockey.

Masterton played at the University of Denver from 1958-61 before embarking on a professional hockey career. He died in 1968 while playing for the Minnesota North Stars. His head struck the ice and he was not wearing a helmet.

Submitted to The PHWA:

C Carl Soderberg. Legally blind in one eye, Soderberg has been the Avalanche’s most consistent center in his first year with the team. He entered Monday with 47 points, one shy his career high – established with the Boston Bruins in his rookie year of 2012-13. Soderberg, 30, was drafted 49th overall in 2004 but didn’t begin NHL career until age 27, after re-learning to play hockey in Sweden after suffering a detached retina from taking stick to the eye at age 22. “I can see a little bit, but not too much,” Soderberg said. “That was seven years ago, a long time ago, and I’m used to it now.” Soderberg, who plays in every situation, is averaging 18:00 in ice time. He has just 28 penalty minutes.

After Monday’s morning skate in Nashville, the soft-spoken Soderberg told me: “It’s great, for sure. It’s a big trophy and a lot of great players have won it. It’s an honor, for sure.”

Said Avs captain Gabe Landeskog, a fellow Swede: “Very deserving. We talked about it the other day — it came up somehow that he is blind in his left eye — and you start thinking about that. It’s hard enough to play the game with two eyes. It’s pretty impressive, and for being known for his passing ability, his hockey sense and his hard work, it’s extremely impressive. You know, he was a big talent coming up in Sweden and he was one of the best players in the Swedish Elite League before he came over here. He’s come over here and proved himself and has become a very solid centerman.”

Funeral:
Friday, April 1, 2016 at 10:00 A.M. MDT
Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church
1318 Mapleton Avenue
Boulder, CO 80302
There will be a reception following the services but those details are currently being worked out.
For those wishing to send flowers, the family has respectively requested you donate to the following fund:
http://www.dawgnationhockey.org/
Click on Donate and you will see Butch’s name, click there and you will find step by step instructions on how to donate.
IMPORTANT: This is a Colorado based foundation. Here is a quote from their site, “It’s important to know, when we receive donations in the honor of a specific individual all money collected is given to them. We do not use those funds for any other purpose.”
MEDIA:
Tim Swiader
tim.swiader@gmail.com
720-840-3266

It takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, and a day to love them, but it takes an entire lifetime to forget them.
—Anonymous

Colorado Avalanche right wing Mikko Rantanen (96) moves the puck around after left wing Cody McLeod (55) helped him shake Minnesota Wild left wing Erik Haula (56) during the first period at the Pepsi Center on March 26, 2016 in Denver. (Brent Lewis, The Denver Post)

I met with Avalanche GM Joe Sakic after Saturday’s 4-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild to talk about rookie Mikko Rantanen, who had just played in his ninth NHL game. He will not play in his 10th game this season, Sakic told me, to preserve the first year of his entry-level contract (three years). His ELC-slide will be used.

The expansion draft plays into the move, Sakic said, but Saturday’s loss did not.

Rantanen, 19, is still looking for his first NHL point. But he has torn up the American Hockey League, leading the San Antonio Rampage with 52 points (21 goals) in just 44 games. In addition to playing for the Avs, the AHL all-star captained Finland to the World Junior Championship gold medal. Rantanen will finish the season with San Antonio and become a full-fledged Avs winger in September.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.